Chew #27Review

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You're not crazy, this really is issue #27.

By Dan Iverson

As a big Chew fan, I was really looking forward to this issue. Giving us a sneak peek of where the series will be nine issues and two story arcs from now, Chew #27 employs the "one year later" gimmick in a refreshing manner -- by actually giving us April 2012's issue right now. This tactic allowed writer John Layman the ability to tease us with future storylines without having to actually jump the series and lean on flashbacks to support the move. In concept this is an original and frankly genius move... too bad the issue didn't capitalize on the idea like it could have.

I'm not going to say that I disliked this issue. I didn't. But after 18 solid issues of this series, and the buildup associated with the idea, I was really let down that this issue wasn't as laugh out loud hysterical, strange, or violent as the book normally is, and that the concept of the "year later" wasn't comically taken advantage of as it could have been. Chew is random enough that I was really expecting an apocalypse scenario, aliens walking the streets, the death of a character, a marriage, maybe a missing limb, or maybe even a promotion for poor Tony Chu, but instead what we got was a sub-par (which still makes it better than a lot of comics out there) issue that didn't live up to the expectations which were inevitably built by fans when this idea was presented.

So, maybe this opportunity didn't milk the "one year later" concept as well as it could have, but did it work as an issue that will be revisited a year from now? That's a tough question to answer. Layman did create an issue that has a story which definitely picks up from where the previous issue (#26, which should be on sale in March 2012) left off and leaves us with a cliffhanger for #28, doing what the second part of a five issue series should. However, without context to what was happening across this issue, as a reader you're lost, and whether that was intended or not, it didn't help the experience. Speaking for what I read, off of what I know from the past 18 issues, I'm sure this will be a decent issue when it comes time to pick it up again, but it just didn't have the absurd flair at the level I'm used to from the series.

All in all, Chew #27 is a great concept on paper. While the issue doesn't really miss the mark, it doesn't manage to deliver a product that could compete with the idea. The preview text for the comic mentions that the "one year later" bit may be a "brilliant jumping on-point, or a pathetic cry for attention," and really I don't see it as either. Chew is a great series that can technically be jumped onto with the beginning of any new storyline, but to ask a new reader to jump headlong into a story which they won't see completed for another year is ridiculous. Still, the concept is sound enough that it seems like a quirky thing to do for a quirky book, rather than act as a cry for attention -- and with the rumors of a Showtime television pilot circulating, it seems as if this was a creative decision rather than a marketing one.

Regardless, as fans of the series you're probably asking, "Should I buy this?" My answer is, "I don't know." It's a reasonably good comic, and if you see yourself reading this series no matter what down the line, Future You may appreciate not having to pick this up in April next year. But, this is a gimmick, and the content doesn't really matter until April. So, how I see it is that this is really a question of how big of a fan of the series you are, as to whether this is worth your #2.99 right now or not.